Where the Girls Are

The Women's Fund President Julie Van Straten dares girls in Brown County to dream big

Jan. 15, 2014

Photo by Mike Peters

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Julie Van Straten with husband, Randy / Mike Peters

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“Do we need to be bolder?”

The question kept nagging The Women’s Fund of Greater Green Bay President Julie Van Straten, a woman no one would ever describe as a shrinking violet. (If you attended the organization’s largest annual fundraising event, Power of the Purse, last September, she was the one in the electric blue dress leading the parade of cheering volunteers into the Radisson’s conference room filled with nearly 1,000 community supporters.)

The Women’s Fund, a fund of the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation, was founded in 1995 and supports community programs that meet its mission of empowering women and inspiring girls while promoting leadership and building self-esteem.

“Within its first nine years, The Women’s Fund has granted out more than $239,000,”says Van Straten, who is in her third year as advisory board president. “That’s great, but we as a group have done a lot of strategic planning and thinking – is this good enough for us? Is this really going to improve the lives of girls and women in our community or do we have to do something more?”

The need for big action was evident in the research conducted by The Women’s Fund Impacts Grants team who listened to local experts, studied data and interviewed more than 100 community members about the current needs of women and girls in Brown County.

What Van Straten and her team discovered is that young girls between the ages of 9 and 15 are at a critical point in their lives. A promising 8-year-old girl can be become withdrawn, self-conscious and disengaged by age 11 as her self-esteem becomes tied to body image. If she lacks female mentors, it just gets worse.

“There’s no reason why it has to be that way for any girl particularly when there are people around who care and can help,” Van Straten says. “It’s our goal to build the infrastructure for a program that can be sustainable, that we can grow and evolve to make a difference in these girls’ lives.”

This is where that boldness comes in.

This year, The Women’s Fund is embarking on a $1 million “Imagine the Future” campaign with $500,000 going towards the fund’s endowment and the other half focusing on a collaborative community strategy that empowers girls to dream “what can be” in their lives, identify goals and develop realistic pathways to get there. Girls will be paired with mentors to help work through obstacles and stay on track.

“This has always been my personal passion. It feels right and I’m really enthused about it,” Van Straten says. “We are going to make this a game changer.”

Even though this campaign is directed toward girls, Van Straten says male supporters will play a crucial role in its success.

“It’s our belief that the community, both men and women, are The Women’s Fund,” Van Straten says. “It’s a community wide endeavor that has both men and women supporting it and both men and women are impacted directly and indirectly by it.”

The leading man and supporter in Van Straten’s life is her husband of nearly 15 years, Randy, who works for Bellin Health Systems. The couple met when they were set up on a blind date by a mutual friend. Van Straten attributes her own career success as General Counsel of UnitedHealthOne, UnitedHealthcare’s Individual Line of Business, in part to the backing of her husband.

“I don’t think I would have been poised and ready for the opportunities I’ve had with the right frame of mind without his support,” she says. “Just having someone saying ‘You can do it’ is huge.”

This type of support network that builds the self-esteem it takes to relentlessly chase dreams is what the Imagine the Future campaign hopes to create in the lives of local girls.

“[Confidence] comes from having a strong network around you that creates the environment that you can do it and you are worthy, that your dreams are attainable,” Van Straten says. “That’s the number one reason I got involved with The Women’s Fund. I don’t think we have a society where those networks are around all of us.”

Although volunteering with The Women’s Fund, the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce and the Catholic Foundation for the Diocese of Green Bay, among others, takes up a good deal of Van Straten’s free time, she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I see things within the community that I would like to see improvement on, so rather than sitting back and admiring the problem, which is easy to do, you make a decision to get involved.

“We all have one life on this earth,” Van Straten says. “How do you want to spend that life?”

How Julie Recharges

a.m. yoga class “Unless I do it early in the a.m. I don’t do it once the day gets started. It’s really nice to take those hours for myself.”

volunteering regularly “The single most important thing I’ve done in the last decade, besides being a mother, is getting involved in the community. I’ve met so many people that have made my life that much richer.”

quality time with family“If there is one thing I am most passionate about in this world it’s family. I have three awesome kids (Theodore, 7th grade; Sam, 6th grade; Ava, 5th grade). They are becoming their own people and it’s so fun to watch.”